Contents

History

Corporate logo as Gaylord Entertainment Company, 2001-2012

Gaylord Entertainment came into existence after Edward Gaylord was persuaded by his wife, Thelma, to purchase the Opryland USA properties that had been put up for sale by American General Insurance. The Gaylords took the Opryland businesses and merged them into Gaylord Broadcasting, their existing television station and syndicated program division. Gaylord Broadcasting became the Gaylord Entertainment Company when the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in the early 1990s. The company flourished as the leader in the "country lifestyle" business under the leadership of E.W. "Bud" Wendell until he retired in 1997.

The Opryland Lodging Group was formed with the opening of the 600 room Opryland Hotel (now named Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center) in November 1977. In addition to catering to guests from the Opryland USA Themepark and Grand Ole Opry, the hotel's first general manager, Jack Vaughn, sought to cater to conventions, a service that Nashville tourism had neglected until then. The hospitality group was a modest, but highly successful division of the Opryland USA properties of Gaylord Entertainment from the hotel's opening through the 1996 expansion of the hotel's almost 3,000 rooms and subsequent announcement of future Opryland Hotels in Florida, Texas and Washington D.C..

In 1997, in partnership with the Nashville Predators (NHL) hockey team (of which Gaylord Entertainment owned a minority share), the company purchased the naming rights to Nashville's new downtown arena, which became known as the Gaylord Entertainment Center. The agreement − originally signed for 20 years at a cost of $80 million − was canceled in 2005, but the name remained on the arena until 2007. Gaylord also divested its ownership share of the franchise.

New management in the late 1990s and early 2000s believed that Gaylord Entertainment's future lie solely in the management of the hospitality arm of the company. With the exception of the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, General Jackson Showboat, Wildhorse Saloon, and WSM radio in Nashville, all non-hotel businesses were abandoned or sold. This included the controversial decision to close and demolish Opryland Themepark.

The hotels division was rebranded as "Gaylord Hotels" in 2000, with the company positioning it as a premium brand. The three previously-announced additional hotels were built. Three other hotels were planned for the areas of San Diego, Phoenix and Denver but were never built. Two other hotel properties were announced as acquisitions; however those were abandoned as well. Ten years after stating that the company's future was in the hospitality and convention business, the same management team reversed course, stating the company could not succeed in managing its hotels.

The company sold the Gaylord Hotels brand to Marriott International in the spring of 2012, completing its transition from a media conglomerate that once owned cable networks, theme parks, television and radio stations, restaurants, giant retail chains, newspapers, sports teams, Internet portals, record companies, as well as film, television, and animation studios into a simple real estate holding company. As a result of the sale, the company lost the rights to use the Gaylord name, resulting in the change to Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.

In the 1990s, Gaylord Entertainment was Tennessee's second largest private employer; as of 2015, Ryman Hospitality now employs fewer than 100 full-time workers.

Conversion to Real Estate

In May 2012, Marriott International agreed to purchase the Gaylord Hotels division and the rights to manage Gaylord's four hotels, the General Jackson Showboat, the Wildhorse Saloon, and Gaylord Springs Golf Links for $210 million in cash. The company changed its name from Gaylord Entertainment to Ryman Hospitality Properties when the deal was finalized in October.[1] According to Chairman and CEO Colin Reed, Ryman will continue to operate and manage the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium and WSM radio for the time being, stating that they are "iconic" assets.[2] The conversion cost more than 300 corporate employees their jobs with the company. The purchase came just as the poison pill put forth by the board of directors expired, opening the company up for a hostile takeover.

Robert Rowling, the Texas billionaire who owns TRT Holdings, bought 14 percent of Gaylord stock in early 2008.[3] Later that year, Gaylord rejected Rowling's bid to increase TRT's stake to 30 percent, saying there would be no benefit to the company and also noting TRT's potential conflict of interest, since TRT owns the Omni Hotel chain, which competes with Gaylord for conference and convention business.[4] In management's effort to see the Marriott plan to succeed, the company paid $185 million on August 7, 2012 for almost half of the shares owned by billionaire Robert Rowling and launched an offering to help him dispose of his remaining 5.6 million shares. Rowling had previously opposed the Marriott purchase saying, "The company can go on a diet without having surgery. We would rather see Gaylord maintain the status quo and implement the savings without permanently impairing the value of the Gaylord Properties by encumbering them with the onerous, long term Marriott Agreement." Omni would go on to open its first Nashville hotel in September 2013, adjacent to the downtown Music City Center.

In 1999, Gaylord Entertainment purchased the naming rights to the major downtown arena in Nashville (home of the Nashville Predators). The agreement was terminated in 2005, but the Gaylord Entertainment Center name remained on the building until March 16, 2007. The facility is now known as Bridgestone Arena.

Gaylord Entertainment also produced the long-running comedy/variety series Hee Haw (initially out of the studios of WTVF in Nashville) and distributed the program over their television stations and in syndication.

Broadcast properties

Ryman Hospitaity's only present broadcast property, as noted above, is WSM (650 AM) in Nashville, a heritage country music station with a 50,000-wattclear-channel signal. Oklahoma Publishing acquired WSM as part of its purchase of the Grand Ole Opry and associated businesses in 1983.[5]

Ryman, while it was a subsidiary of Oklahoma Publishing, owned several television and radio stations. The broadcasting subsidiary was known as the WKY Television System, named after its Oklahoma City flagship stations, until 1975 when it took on the Gaylord Broadcasting Company name.[6] Below are charts of stations formerly owned by Ryman's predecessor companies.